John Kerry: National Security Menace

Secretary of State John Kerry’s credibility has taken a major hit with the revelation that his favorite Middle Eastern dictator has been killing his own people with illegal chemical weapons.

Kerry’s abominable judgment, coupled with his anti-Americanism, has blinded him for a long time to the threat posed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. For years Kerry functioned as an unofficial lobbyist for Assad in Washington, D.C., making excuses for him and doing his bidding in Congress.

So it must have pained Kerry yesterday to admit that someone he not-too-long-ago called his “dear friend” used Sarin in at least two known attacks against rebels in Syria’s increasingly blood civil war, according to reports.

The United Nations designates Sarin as a weapon of mass destruction. Its manufacture and stockpiling are prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes Sarin (also known by the military designation GB) as

“a nerve agent that is one of the most toxic of the known chemical warfare agents. It is generally odorless and tasteless. Exposure to sarin can cause death in minutes. A fraction of an ounce (1 to 10 ml) of sarin on the skin can be fatal.”

The pressure will now be on President Obama, who said last summer that if Syria used chemical weapons such an action would be a “game-changer” for the United States.

“We have been very clear to the Assad regime but also to other players on the ground that a red line for us is [when] we start seeing a whole bunch of weapons moving around or being utilized,” Obama said. “That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.”

His embrace of adversarial tyrants is nothing new. Over and over again he has become infatuated with thugs. Kerry supported an array of Communist dictators including Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega.

When the U.S. liberated Grenada in 1983 from the clutches of Marxist dictator Bernard Coard, Kerry’s first instinct was to attack his own country. “The invasion represented a bully’s show of force against a weak Third World nation,” said Kerry. “The invasion only served to heighten world tensions and further strain brittle U.S.–Soviet and North–South relations.”

But now the Kerry-Assad “bromance” that captured the imagination of liberal-internationalists everywhere is over. As secretary of state, Kerry has had to distance himself from his love-object.

In early March, Kerry vowed that the U.S. would “empower” Syria’s opposition and declared that Assad must go. The Obama administration has followed up with shipments of non-lethal humanitarian aid to opposition forces, which are now dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Kerry’s new tone stands in stark contrast with his behavior as a U.S. senator.

Kerry journeyed to Syria repeatedly from 2009 through 2011, meeting five times with Assad. After taking a motorcycle ride with Assad, Kerry referred to the butcher of Damascus as “my dear friend,” a term of endearment that reportedly made the then-senator’s staffers wince.

“On March 16, 2011—the day after the first mass demonstration against the regime—John Kerry said Assad was a man of his word who had been ‘very generous with me.’ He added that under Assad ‘Syria will move; Syria will change as it embraces a legitimate relationship with the United States.'”

Alas, Assad’s Syria did not change. The dictator, a major backer of the Islamic terrorist group Hezbollah, was only telling his number one fan what he wanted to hear. He was stringing him along.

No doubt this special relationship affected Kerry’s judgment. In early 2010 Kerry told leaders in the Middle East that he felt Israel should cede the strategic plateau known as the Golan Heights back to Syria. Such a move would have been disastrous.

“Imagine the situation Israel would be facing today if it had heeded the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman’s advice,” The Blaze’s Sharona Schwartz wrote late last year as President Obama was about to nominate Kerry as secretary of state. “The strategic plateau overlooking all of northern Israel might today be on the verge of falling into the hands of Syrian homegrown terrorists and imported Al-Qaeda members.”

Kerry reminded the world last week that in essence he is a useful idiot always willing to give Islamic totalitarian thugs the benefit of the doubt.

Testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Kerry said elections in theocratic Iran aren’t much different than elections in the U.S.

When committee chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) expressed concern that Iran’s nuclear weapons program was progressing unabated, Kerry was blase:

“They are two months away from an election. The election is on June 14th and every bit of evidence we have — this very week or next week they declare who their candidates are — and there is an enormous amount of jockeying going on with the obvious normal struggle for attention between hard-liners and people who might want to make an agreement etc. We all know what life is like here in the Senate six months from a presidential election, so you can imagine what it’s like there two months from theirs. And so I think this is a moment for us to be a little patient.”

Except that Iran doesn’t have real elections. They’re shams run by fanatics and lackeys. Pro-Western candidates are banned.

Kerry’s complacency towards Iran means America is missing an opportunity to promote change in a country that puts religious and political dissenters to death and that is trying to develop nuclear weapons it can use to threaten Israel and American interests.

During the last Iranian election in mid-2009, Iranians cried out to the U.S. for help and encouragement and President Obama did nothing apart from reassuring the powers that be that he offered “a path . . . in which their sovereignty is respected, their traditions, their culture, their faith is respected.”

Kerry is evidently doing Obama’s will, refusing to lift a finger to help the pro-Western opposition forces.

“We know now how the do-nothing political approach turned out,” Anne Bayefsky writes in National Review Online. “After four years more of [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, Iran is on the verge of acquiring the world’s most dangerous weapon.”

Let’s recap just two of Kerry’s foul-ups since joining President Obama’s cabinet on Feb. 1:

On April 21, Kerry compared victims of terrorism with perpetrators of it. He drew parallels between innocent bystanders murdered in the Boston Marathon bombing to Turkish-backed armed belligerents killed three years ago trying to violently break Israel’s blockade of the terrorist-infested Gaza Strip.

He said the bombing victims made him think of Turks who died during “the 2010 IDF raid on the Marmara,” a reference to Israeli commandos’ boarding of the Mavi Marmara, a ship carrying pro-Hamas militants in the blockade-running “Gaza Freedom Flotilla.”

Without acknowledging that terrorists participated in the flotilla, Kerry said the Boston bombing made him “acutely aware of the emotions felt by the families of the nine Turks who died” during the raid.

Earlier this month Kerry adopted a curious peace-through-weakness stance toward North Korea after the Defense Intelligence Agency announced that Pyongyang probably already has nuclear weapons capable of being delivered to targets. Instead of talking tough, Kerry offered to reduce U.S. ballistic missile defense deployments if China puts a leash on North Korea.

And like a bumbling salesman lowering an offering price when he learns the buyer is wealthier than he suspected, Kerry rattled America’s allies by suggesting the U.S. may lower the bar for opening direct negotiations with the rogue Stalinist state. Such an approach rewards North Korea’s aggression.

Is Kerry completely incompetent or consciously pursuing an agenda to hurt American interests? Time will tell.

But one thing is certain: Kerry is a dangerous national security menace that the U.S. cannot afford in its top diplomat.

Matthew Vadum is an award-winning investigative reporter and the author of the book, "Subversion Inc.: How Obama’s ACORN Red Shirts Are Still Terrorizing and Ripping Off American Taxpayers."

bike mike

I wonder how generou$ assad was with kerry?

pierce

The world now knows why John Kerry's nickname is Lurch thanks to Matt. What a bumbling fool this Swift Boat veteran has turned out to be, and he's our Secretary of State.

PhillipGaley

"Is Kerry completely incompetent . . . ."?

I kind of think that, John Kerry is evil, . . . and for a long time has been evil, . . .

kaz

in government, there are worse things than incompetence. in america, we tend to elect incompetent patriots and extremely competent traitors. it is a relief to see an extremely competent traitor replaced by a bumbling fool traitor. kerry may actually make some good decisions as secretary of state. when he does, it will be because he just doesnt understand the situation.

pagegl

When Kerry was comparing Iran's elections to ours maybe he knew something about what the Democrats and Obama would do to win in 2012.

donny

Yes, Kerry is an incompetent fool. But I don't care what weapons Assad uses to defeat the Jihad i Islamic supremacists he is fighting. They must be stopped by any means.

BLJ

John Kerry is a turncoat who has zero business being Sec of State.

WilliamJamesWard

There is no mystery as to Obama's agenda, put the Muslim Brotherhood into power in the
Middle East so that they control the Middle East, Syria and Iran and Hezbollah Lebanon
are not on board with this thinking. The war will continue indefinitely unless with the aid
of Turkey the rest fall in line as Egypt is. Suni and Shia at war again and they will continue
to fight while all still seek the destruction of Israel. Nuclear Iran will be a deal breaker and
a change will take place in everyone's plans, of course it will get worse before it changes
and that is the show, Obama and Kerry will slink about knowing Americans are tired of thier
conduct and are becoming aware of the jackals they are. The World is falling into anarchy.
William

D-Boy

"Testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Kerry said elections in theocratic Iran aren’t much different than elections in the U.S."

So he is telling us he knows all about the voter fraud going on within the democratic party, used to get IDIOTS elected!
His face lift makes him look like an earthworm.

kaz

i would have to agree with kerry about the elections. in both countries the elections are dishonest, and a muslim gets elected. being evil does not necessarily make one wrong. blind hog, acorn.

lizaz

Chemical weapons he undoubtedly got from Saddam Hussein…….

RiverFred

Kerry's mouth needs to be sewn shut, the guy is embarrassing.

WilliamJamesWard

A National Security Disgrace………………….William

κατεργάζομαι

RE: John Kerry: National Security Menace…..Dennis.

The Wikileaks doc dump (back then) had the unintended effect of revealing some of the true feelings of American policy makers regarding Israel.

For instance, one eye opening document revealed John Kerry's eagerness to give Syria the Golan Heights back to Syria while throwing in East Jerusalem for the Palestinians.

On a February trip to the Middle East, THEN, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry (Democrat, MA. who served in Viet Na-a-a-a-a-am!) – told Qatari leaders that the Golan Heights should be returned to Syria, WHAT?!

I suppose Kerry can readily dismiss longstanding US policy on the need to maintain an undivided Jerusalem as capitol of Israel but who's paying attention?

kerry's antiamericanism is not the cause of his support of al-assad. his support of bashir al-assad is due to incompetence. his antiamericanism dictates that he support the worst outcome in syria, and evil as he is, assad is preferable to the syrian government that the rebels are there to create. if kerry had done his homework, his antiamericanism would have him supporting the rebels. this is similar to the situation when the muslim in chief refused to bomb khadaffy: the poor dear just was not able to discern what would be the wrong thing to do. unfortunately, dear leader had sufficient information at his disposal to quickly discern that it was bombing khadaffy that was the true antiamerican policy, and obama came through with the bombing. when we elect evil to high office, incompetence is not such a bad thing.

Carl

It stands to reason that anti-American, anti-Israel John Kerry is the US Secretary of State.

He and President of the United States Barack Hussein Obama share the selfsame views.

jeanjean4

Killing his own peole? You mean the global umma. Those jidadists from around the world who are raping, torturing and slaughterin everyone who is not on their side?

John Kerry is essentially a lap dog for President Obama. CAIR and ISNA are pretty much running the show with this administration. These organizations have strong sympathies for fundamentalist Muslims who want to destroy America, Israel, Europe, etc. and replace all these nations with a global Islamic dictatorship where sharia law is strictly enforced and there is no freedom of speech or freedom of religion.
President Obama needs to come out of the closet and admit he is not looking out for America’s best interest at all. He is instead following the policy desires of CAIR and ISNA. All of Obama’s aides no their jobs are history if they don’t knuckle under and do what President Obama, or quite accurately CAIR and ISNA want.